MORE than 42 years have passed. But the very mention of the name is enough to terrify women of a certain age and spark fierce debate as to his true identity.

MORE than 42 years have passed. But the very mention of the name is enough to terrify women of a certain age and spark fierce debate as to his true identity.

The serial killer who is thought to have murdered three young woman in Glasgow in the late 1960s achieved widespread notoriety after he was nicknamed Bible John.

His three known victims had several things in common:

They had all been dancing at the famous Barrowland Ballroom on the night they were killed.

They were all menstruating at the time of their deaths.

Their handbags were missing

They were all strangled.

Their suspected killer was a young man who gave his christian name as John.

He quoted texts from the Bible and spoke of how his father regarded dance halls - such as the Barrowland - as "dens of iniquity".

He referred to Moses and also once said: "I don't drink at Hogmanay. I pray."

Despite a massive murder hunt and repeated investigations since, the murders remain unsolved. But in recent months, police have come as close as they ever have to unmasking Bible John.

Many believe he is the same man who is currently languishing in jail, convicted of three other murders - those of Angelika Kluk, Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol.

That man is Peter Tobin.

When he was convicted of the murder of Vicky, evil Tobin taunted a prison psychiatrist that he had killed 48 women, then sneered: "Prove it."

A Britain-wide probe, Operation Anagram, has been investigating whether Tobin is linked to dozens of unsolved murders - including the Bible John killings.

The three murders still rank No1 in the unsolved list of Scotland's crime files.

It was the morning of February 23, 1968, when the body of 25-year-old Patricia Docker was found in a Glasgow doorway. She had been strangled.

The previous night, she had been out dancing at a nearby club, the Majestic Ballroom in Hope Street.

On August 15, 1969, Jemima McDonald, 32, went for a night out at the Barrowland Ballroom.

The next day, she was found in an old building, strangled with her stockings. She had left the club at midnight with a tall, slim young man with red hair.

Just 77 days later, on October 31, 1969, Helen Puttock, 29, was found.

She had been to the Barrowland Ballroom the night before with her sister Jean Langford. They met two men called John - one of them from Castlemilk.

Castlemilk John headed to George Square to get a bus while Helen, Jean and the other John got a taxi. They travelled to the Scotstoun area where Jean got out.

The taxi continued to Earl Street where Helen lived.

Her body was found early the next day. She had been strangled and her handbag was missing.

The suspect was described by Jean as well-dressed, tall and slim with reddish, fair hair, polite and well-spoken. He mentioned texts from the Bible.

Artists then produced memorable sketches of the wanted man.

Several years ago, DNA technology was used to link suspect John McInnes with the death of Helen. There was a semen stain on her tights and a bite mark. McInnes's remains were exhumed but tests were inconclusive.

Among the detectives involved in the triple-murder hunt was Joe Jackson.

He went on to became head of Glasgow's CID, probing 150 killings. His book Chasing Killers recalls the unusual methods used in the Bible John case.

He said: "I formed part of what the Press called the Marine Formation Dance team - detectives assigned to attend dance halls. We'd dance with customers and question them while showing nifty footwork. It was a dirty job but someone had to do it."

Jackson is convinced that Bible John is Tobin. He said: "I saw his photo after the church killing and thought, 'This is as near Bible John as you're going to get'."

Tobin was 21, living in Glasgow at the time and a regular at city dance halls.

Around that time, he launched a sex attack on his first wife, driven to violence by the menstrual cycle - a factor in all the Bible John murders.

Tobin left Scotland in 1969 - the year the killings stopped. His DNA does not match the Puttock semen stains but Jackson does not rule him out because the semen may not have been the killer's.

Tobin, now 63, met his first wife, Margaret Mackintosh, then 17, at a Glasgow dance hall in 1968. Soon he was raping, beating and strangling her.

Detectives recently issued pictures of a younger Tobin, who does bear a striking similarity to the Bible John posters.